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tinsley-goldsworth · 5 years

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blood still stains when the sheets are washed

summary: c.c. has a sneaking suspicion that ricky is hiding something from him [or the five suspicious signs c.c. noticed about ricky]

(Week 1 of my 30 weeks of prompt challenge; dice and playing cards)

wc: 2851

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Ever since his teenage years, C.C. never liked parties all that much. The glamour of it all, the loud music, and the messy drinks never really appealed to his interest, but C.C. agreed to attend Francesca’s party as he knew she would probably murder him if he didn’t attend it. Francesca had questionable morals and a sketchy life but C.C. firmly separated his personal life from his work life. Every detective had a friend who occasionally committed crimes and got away with it, right?

C.C. wasn’t having the best time at her party and frankly, it was a little boring to have to make small talk with some mutuals he didn’t know well After a few drinks, he transitioned from talking to people to playing card games with strangers (drunk Tinsley was much bolder than sober Tinsley would ever be). He sat at a table with a dim light hanging over it and his long legs still reached the ground, even though he was sitting on a barstool. There were dozens of red solo cups on the table and he was surprised that nobody had knocked over any drinks during their games.

They played a variety of different card games, including poker, and C.C. was still sober enough to notice that a particular person was winning every single game and suspiciously, that person was always the one to shuffle the cards. He couldn’t recall the person’s name but as the person began shuffling the cards, C.C. asked loudly, “Hey, uh, shuffle guy! What’s your name again?”

“Ricky Goldsworth,” The person answered, raising an eyebrow at C.C.’s unruly volume. He continued to shuffle the cards nonchalantly, his fingers moving swiftly as he skillfully bent the cards. As inebriated C.C. was, he still took note of how oddly familiar Ricky was with the cards, which was seeming like he had spent the majority of his life just playing card games.

“Ricky! You’ve been shuffling the cards all night and you’ve been winning every single game! I think there’s something fishy here,” C.C. could hear the slight slur in his own words and he knew that he was too drunk to be taken seriously. The other people playing didn’t seem to think so as they laughed uproariously at his remark and Ricky cleared his throat as he placed the perfectly stacked and shuffled deck of cards in the center of the table.

“There are no such things as coincidences in the world, Tinsley,” Ricky commented mysteriously and C.C. couldn’t decide whether that remark was seductively mysterious or meaninglessly deep. Either way, the way Ricky’s eyes glinted mischievously after talking made C.C.’s heart skip a beat. The party had started to die down and eventually, the people who were avidly playing the card game moments earlier left.

The detective was too intoxicated to make good decisions so of course, his night ended with hooking up with Ricky because a) he was insanely attractive and b) there was so much unresolved romantic tension between them and C.C. could never let anything remain unresolved.

The morning after, C.C. expected Ricky to disappear mysteriously but Ricky didn’t leave. He and Ricky never really discussed what happened as their relationship sort of took off from there. At first, it was a casual relationship where they went on a few dates and then, their relationship strengthened and they began spending more time with each other.

Despite C.C. sharing a large amount of information about himself, he still didn’t know much about Ricky. But in a way, he liked the mysterious sheen of Ricky’s personality so when Ricky brushed off any specific questions about his past, C.C. didn’t push farther. However, C.C. did learn that Ricky worked at a drug company but somehow managed to live a somewhat luxurious lifestyle.

After a few months of dating, C.C. decided to ask Ricky to move in since Ricky was basically already living with him. Many of Ricky’s belongings were already in C.C.’s house so the move was relatively easy and quick. For some reason, C.C. didn’t really process the fact that Ricky was going to be moving in with him until he gave his boyfriend a key to his house.

“Now, you better not lose this or else you’re going to be in big trouble,” C.C. half-joked as he handed his boyfriend the key. When Ricky received the key, he broke into his signature charming grin as he took out his keychain that had his car keys and attached the house key to the keychain.

As he held up the keychain, Ricky proudly announced, “Don't worry, if it’s attached to my car keys I won’t ever lose them.”

When Ricky held up his keychain, C.C.’s detective senses flared when he noticed that there was a small gold dice charm attached to the keychain. C.C. would have brushed it off if the gold dice was plastic and coated in fake gold paint but the charm appeared to be made out of pure gold as it had scratches on the surface but no paint or other colors had been revealed from the scratches.

“Hey, is that a gold dice charm? It looks cool,” C.C. asked casually, pointing to the dangling charm. His mind was racing as he tried to connect the dots to find a logical explanation. There was no way Ricky could afford to buy a charm made out of pure gold if his only source of income was working at the drug company.

“Oh, a friend gave it to me for my birthday. It’s just a good luck charm. Hey, do you want Thai food for dinner tonight?” Ricky asked, smoothly switching the topic away from the charm as he put his keychain back into his pocket. The charm wasn’t mentioned again for a long long time after that interaction.

Living with Ricky was a dream but as time passed, C.C. started to notice more suspicious things happening. For example, there would be black cars that would constantly drive past their house and sometimes, they would park for a couple seconds and C.C. could feel whoever was hiding behind those dark tinted windows staring at the house before driving away. He hoped that he was just being paranoid and that these signs didn’t mean anything but it happened too often to be a coincidence.

One day, C.C. returned home from work early and he saw one of the black cars that often drove by their house parked in their driveway next to Ricky’s car, occupying C.C.’s parking spot. The detective parked his car next to the sidewalk in front of his house and since the curtains were drawn, C.C. couldn’t see who was inside the house. He had a hunch that there was a conversation going on inside the house that he wasn’t supposed to hear so he entered through the back door quietly.

As he gently closed the door behind him, C.C. heard the soft lull of a hushed conversation in the living room floating through the air and after removing his shoes, he carefully walked closer to better hear what the conversation was about. The people were speaking in deep, low voices, which made it hard to distinguish words, but C.C. heard the words “money”, “delivery”, “job”, and “deadline”. He was approaching the living room and getting closer to hearing the conversation but he tripped over a fallen letter and made a loud noise.

C.C. swore under his breath, cursing his clumsy behavior as the conversation halted to a stop and he heard somebody stand up and start moving towards where he was standing. He held his breath and when he saw that it was Ricky who walked out of the living room. His boyfriend had a frown on his face as he asked, “What are you doing here? I thought you were coming back later.”

“I got off work early. What’s up with the black cars in the driveway? Also, who are you talking to?” C.C. tried to move past Ricky to take a look at who was in the living room but Ricky blocked him smoothly.

“Nobody important. Just dealing with some business. They’re leaving now anyway. Stay here,” Ricky instructed and C.C. nodded. When Ricky slipped back into the living room, C.C. broke his promise as he shuffled closer to the living room, trying to get a good look at whoever was in the living room without being too obvious about it. There were two or three men dressed in all black and wearing sunglasses that Ricky was talking to and C.C. was unsure whether they were government officials or outlaws.

Ricky murmured something to the men and the men nodded before leaving the house. C.C. quietly returned to his earlier position so when Ricky walked out of the living room, C.C. didn’t seem like he moved at all. The detective knew that if he pressed for answers, Ricky would divert the subject. And even though this was clearly a red flag, C.C. decided to yet again give Ricky the benefit of the doubt.

A few weeks later, Ricky surprised C.C. with an extravagant gift. Although he didn’t seem like one, Ricky Goldsworth was one of the biggest sweethearts C.C. had ever met. So, of course, on their one year anniversary, Ricky bought C.C. a gift.

They were sitting at the dinner table when Ricky took out a small bag and placed it in front of C.C. with a giant grin on his face. C.C. gasped delightedly and took the bag off the table, carefully placing it in his lap as he looked inside to find a small box. He took out the small black box and opened it to reveal a stunning red and silver ring.

“Just to clarify, it’s not a wedding ring. I would’ve spent more if this was a wedding ring. This was just a tiny gift I wanted to give to you,” Ricky explained nonchalantly as C.C. examined the ring. The ring was rather thin and delicate but the red ruby seemed to pop out against the silver band. Ornate vine patterns were carved into the ring and C.C. deducted that this ring was handmade and probably costed a fortune.

“How did you afford this ring, honey?” C.C. asked incredulously, still trying to comprehend how expensive the ring was. With a large jewel, hand-carved intricate designs, the ring must’ve been at least ten thousand dollars, which was definitely out of Ricky’s budget.

“Oh, just another shift at the drug company. It’s not a big deal. It’s not that expensive anyway.” Ricky casually replied, taking a sip out of his wine glass. C.C. eyed his boyfriend suspiciously, uncertain of whether Ricky was joking or actually trying to convince C.C. If he was trying to convince C.C., it was definitely not working as only an idiot would believe that an extra shift could cover the cost of this exquisite piece of jewelry.

Before C.C. could probe any further, Ricky quickly brought up the new topic of buying a new car and C.C. brushed any thoughts about Ricky’s behavior into the corner of his mind. The detective did end up wearing the ring often and as a result, he received a lot of questions about it. With each question asked about how much the ring was or who gave him the ring, C.C. was reminded of how shady the whole situation was. But then again, it wasn’t a big deal, just like the men in black, and C.C. didn’t want to make it seem more important than it was.

However, C.C. wasn’t able to make any more excuses once he found a dead body in the bathtub. Once again, the detective had returned home early from work and he was surprised that Ricky wasn’t home yet as he usually arrived earlier than C.C. did.

C.C. wasn’t looking to snoop around to find anything Ricky was hiding but a dead body lying face down in a bathtub was sort of hard to miss when you were using the bathroom. When C.C. first saw the body, he had a moment of frozen shock as he stared at it in dismay, uncertain about what to do with the bloody corpse in the tub. He had no clue how it got there in the first place but he had a very strong suspicion that Ricky was associated with the dead body.

The blood was already caking in the body and C.C. carefully inspected it the best he could without touching it. He was examining the stab wound on the person’s bad when he heard Ricky coming in. Instead of pretending that there was no problem present like he had always been doing, C.C. decided to confront Ricky.

“Hey, sweetie! How was your day?” Ricky called out as he entered the house and walked towards the bathroom. C.C.’s heart rate quickened as he heard his boyfriend walk closer and closer and when Ricky opened the bathroom door, his mouth fell open in a surprised “O”. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Ricky, can you please just explain what’s going on? I’m kind of tired of you brushing aside all these weird things you do. You owe me an explanation.” Looking Ricky in the eye while saying that was one of the most difficult tasks C.C. had ever done and he had solved hundreds of murders. Ricky sighed and he nodded in defeat, closing the bathroom door behind him as he stepped in.

“Where do you want me to start?” Ricky, normally warm and caring, started to display signs of defensiveness as he crossed his arm after anxious running his hands through his hair.

The detective sat on the edge of the bathtub, where there was thankfully no blood, and thought for a moment before answering. “Start from the moment we met. When you were shuffling the cards. I couldn’t help but notice you were really good at shuffling cards.”

“You really do pick up on everything, huh?” Ricky smiled slyly at C.C. and C.C. couldn’t help but crack a small, proud smile at his skills. “Well, obviously, I don’t work at a drug company. I sort of deal with criminals. I did most of my connections when I was in Vegas over games of Poker so I learned how to play cards well to impress potential business partners.”

“And the golden dice?” C.C. raised a questioning eyebrow and Ricky leaned against the sink, tapping the side of the counter with his fingertips.

“I won the golden dice in a game of blackjack and to this day, the guy who I won it from still contacts me,” Ricky’s pride was starting to reveal itself in his voice. Even though being a criminal was nothing to be proud of, Ricky somehow managed to make doing dirty business seem like he was a famous actor rising to fame.

“What about the men in black?”

“Oh, those guys.” Ricky casually picked up a loose coin lying near the sink on the countertop and began fiddling with it mindlessly. “They were business partners. They gave me a task to do and they offered a lot of money for the job.”

“Which is what you used to buy the ring,” C.C. filled in the blank and Ricky nodded, placing the coin down on the countertop as he locked eyes with C.C. again.

“That’s right. They paid upfront since they’ve been working with me long enough to trust me so u decided to buy a small present for you. It didn’t cost too much compared to what I earned.” As Ricky spoke, C.C. glanced down at the breathtaking ring on his finger and realized that he was never going to be able to look at the ring again and not associate the deep red ruby with blood.

“What’s this about then?” C.C. gestured to the dead body and Ricky sighed, pursing his lips a bit. He clearly was fine with sharing everything but this.

“He’s just a job. I needed someplace to put the body and I thought you weren’t going to come home early. Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of him.” Ricky flashed his signature smirk and C.C. hated the fact that that one simple gesture was enough to make him blush.

“You know I could technically call the police right now and you could be convicted with countless crimes, right?” C.C. asked loosely as he stood up to his full height so he was towering over Ricky. Ricky didn’t seem threatened at all as he calmly leaned further back against the counter and looked up at C.C., his classic smirk still on his face.

“You could. But are you going to?”

~ click the link in my bio for my bfu fics!

#fics #tinsworth #ricky goldsworth #c.c. tinsley #cc tinsley #bfu #buzzfeed unsolved #bfucu #buzzfeed unsolved cinematic universe #fanfiction #buzzfeed unsolved fanfiction #songfic #5 + 1 fic #5 +1 things #getting together #organized crime #mobster #sam's 30 week prompt challenge

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haleighdennis · 5 years

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The Trial of Megatron Part One: The End? Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sari didn’t know where she was. One second, she was sightseeing with her friends, the next she was standing alone in an alleyway and she couldn’t find either of them for the life of her. They were probably worried sick, she thought. How could she help them find her? If only she hadn’t left her jetpack with Bumblebee. It was useful for zipping and zooming all over the place, but it was also heavy and Sari hadn’t felt like toting it then. Now she wish she had.

As soon as she realized that she was lost, Sari had to dash around frantically to avoid getting stepped on by scads of big metal feet traipsing around downtown Iacon. She ducked into a dark corridor and tried to regain her bearings.

“Where the heck did you guys go?” she moaned, running her eyes back and forth over the fast-moving Autobot civilians in vain.

Sari heard movement further down the corridor she was standing in, causing her head to rotate around. She saw a robot and a few fembots duck into an open, empty street and creep into a dark building. Sari’s brow furrowed. She didn’t want to get tangled up with Iacon’s seedy underground world of smugglers and rioters that Bulkhead and Bumblebee had cautiously warned her about at the beginning of their outing, but maybe one of the bots on this slower-moving road would be willing stop long enough to direct her to a public place – like a quiet park or hospital – where she could hang low until the guys found her. Even better, maybe Cybertron had a police force of some kind that could help her find her friends. Without a clear plan of action, Sari started walking toward the quiet street at the end of the alley.

Once there, she saw the building that the other Autobots had snuck into. An inconspicuous little hole-in-the-wall crowned with an assortment of fluorescent glyphs that were not lit. Sari couldn’t read Cybertronain, but while she was looking on, a few more bots scuttled in the front entrance, being careful not to be seen.

“Hey.” A creaky whispering cockney voice behind her made Sari jump. “Are you here for Mcaddams?”

Whipping around, Sari saw a 17-to-20-foot tall Autobot with a pointed chin looking at her wide-eyed. She straightened up. The Autobot seemed nervous, but not phased at the sight of a human. Why on earth, or Cybertron in this case, wasn’t he scared to death of her?

Sari kept out of sight while with Bumblebee and Bulkhead. As Bulkhead had explained to her earlier that day: “Autobots aren’t used to humans running around, and we wouldn’t want to you scare anybot.”

Even so, here one was asking her questions. The stranger wrung his hands nervously, “Well? So are you here for Mcaddams, or not?”

Sari tried to shake off her surprise, “Mcaddams? No, I don’t think so…” The ‘bot looked suddenly distraught at this response. He looked over his shoulder watchfully.

“Th-then you’re just passin’ through? Right?”

Sari had wanted to say that she was actually looking for a police station, but this Autobot seemed to have enough problems of his own, most of which revolved around ‘Mcaddams,’ whatever that was. “Yes, just passing through. Sorry.” She said and tried to walk away.

The bot appeared instantly relieved. “Oh! Oh, good. Y’know, we need more good folks like you on Cybertron. Heh, heh. Y’know, for a moment there, I thought you was gonna turn me in – Heh! – just for havin’ a sip or two a’ oil!”

“No, not me.” Sari shrugged ignorantly.

“Thanks a lot ‘shorty,’ I owe you one.” With that he was off, striding confidently now, into the mysterious building.

Sari stayed behind in the road, totally confused by the exchange that had just taken place. She decided to wait for another Autobot to happen by, but no one else came near the mysterious building after that. She could still hear the noisy commuters at the other end of the corridor, though.

Sari began to consider her options. She didn’t want to go back near the busy main street, and thinking back to her conversation, the ‘bot she talked to seemed unfazed by the fact that she was an organic. He and many other civilians had waltzed into that strange building. If anyone on this planet was going to help her find her way, maybe someone in there would. It was worth a shot. After all, what did she have to lose?

Feeling as if she had no choice, Sari walked up to the oversized door and gave a loud series of knocks. Nothing. She tried again, making the biggest noise possible for a creature of her size. No one welcomed her in, but she began to hear movement behind the door. After a minute, it suddenly slid open to just a slit and a single glowing cyan Autobot optic hunted up and down for the source of the noise.

“Down here!” Sari shouted. She always had to shout to get the attention of Optimus and the others. It was a bit of a bad habit and had gotten to the point where she shouted at almost everyone – human and Autobot. She tried to make her shout sound friendly, but the bot behind the door jolted at the sound.

Sari waved apprehensively, “Hi! I don’t mean to intrude, but I have a sorta general question I need to ask someone! Maybe you can help –“ The door slammed, tossing a blast of air onto Sari’s face. She stood stiffly outside for a moment, but then cupped her ear to the door. There was whispering on the inside of the building and then all fell silent. As suddenly as before the door swung fully open, nearly smacking Sari in the face in the process. The pointy-chinned bot from a few minutes ago was there along with another bot. “Yeah, let ‘er in!” The former confirmed gleefully at the sight of Sari, “She’s one of us!”

Almost before she realized what was happening, Sari was ushered with warm remarks of welcome through a dark entryway and led down a small flight of four giant stairs that opened into a brilliantly lit room, which looked halfway like an old western bar and something like a gas station. Autobots of all shapes and sizes, goblets and glasses in-servo, cheered heartily as Sari jumped down the steps after her strange new acquaintance. To her shock she saw a couple of extra-large robots with massive wings on their backs and concluded that they were Decepticons. They cheered too when she bumped onto the floor before returning to their strong energon-infused drinks. Sari was amazed with how non-threatening they appeared compared to her previous impressions of Decepticons, but she still thought it best to keep her distance. After all, in her experience, Decepticons were destructive at best and malicious at worst.

The ‘bot Sari followed shouted in the direction of the main serving counter, “Hey Cabernet!” A red and white Autobot with a smart black metallic bowtie popped up from behind the counter, “This here’s my friend! When was the last time we had an organic at Mcaddams Oil House?”

The bartender wore a lazy smile as he leaned casually on the counter, sliding another glass of distilled oil down to a customer. His answer came slowly and thoughtfully, “Well, I suppose the last time I saw an organic here was two or three million stellar cycles ago, looked kinda like this one, but with waymore hair.”

“Three million stellar cycles! How do you like that? Well, then, we had better show her some hospitality or they won’t be back for another three million! Isn’t that right, missy?” Sari’s new friend laughed heartily and crouched down to her level, “I’m Noir, by the way. Need a lift?”

Sari was used to being asked that question in various forms. Noir stuck out an outstretched palm that Sari scrambled into. He lifted her up and let her hop onto the counter.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked, leaning over to look at Sari face-to-face.

“Oh, no.” She said, waving her hand to refuse, “I don’t drink – oil.” Sari didn’t want to sound rude, but frankly she didn’t drink oil or energon, and if that was all Macaddams served, it was no wonder it had been years since organic life had been there. Besides, if there was one thing Sari had learned from Bulkhead’s once-friends, Mixmaster and Scrapper, it was that bots who filled up too much on oil tended to act a little ditzy. She could already see some reckless little quarrels breaking out in the corner of the bar. In one particularly heated argument over a gambling game, the House’s bouncer – an Autobot triple-changer – ended up having to heft the two arguers out the back door by their tailpipes, one in each enormous servo.

Noticing Sari’s apprehension, Noir shouted, “Nonsense! This one’s on me! Give her something for organics, Cabernet.”

Cabernet never skipped a beat. He whipped out a grey, frothy mixture and filled an oversized shot glass to the brim. “Try this,” he winked at Sari, “It’s delicious!”

Sari eyed the grey stuff suspiciously, picked it up with one hand and sniffed. It smelled sweet, like sugar.

“Smile, everyone!” A bot with a holo-scanner jumped in front of Sari and Cabernet, startling her. Noir slid into position next to them and the two bots smiled merrily. Sari raised her drink, but couldn’t manage a smile. The holoscanner captured the image with a broad green laser that swept the threesome up and down before flashing brightly twice.

Noir sidled up to the photographer, “Lemme see, lemme see!” A 3-D image projected from the holoscanner, “Ooh look at that! One for the data files!”

Reminding herself that she needed to find her friends, Sari jumped to get Noir’s attention. “Hey, I have a question!”

“Sure thing,” he took a swig of oil. “I have an answer. Whaddaya wanna know?”

“I’m looking for someone, but I don’t know where to find them.“

Noir scrunched up his face, “Who?”

“You probably wouldn’t know them. I just need to –”

“I know a lot of bots on Cybertron.” Noir slurred, “Try me.”

Sari shrugged uncomfortably, “Just two guys called Bumblebee and Bulkhead.”

The bar fell silent.

Sari paused before continuing, “What? What is it? You don’t actuallyhappen to know them, do you?”

“Wait,” a bot in the crowd said, “Are you that organic who came back with Optimus Prime’s crew?”

Before Sari could respond, Noir stood up and faced the crowd of patrons, rubbing his servo across his forehead tensely. “A human? I-I had no idea.” Every head was turned towards him. Sari noticed that everone had become very uneasy. Cabernet stopped pouring drinks. Everyone’s glasses were frozen in their hands.

“Sentinel Magnus warned us about this type.” Somebot said pointing a harsh finger at Noir, “and heinvited her in!”

“Sentinel Magnus?” Sari repeated in confusion.

“Hang on everyone, “ Noir stumbled to explain, “I didn’t know.”

A fembot let out a single sarcastic laugh and stood up, “The humans tried to offline Ultra Magnus, and now they’ve come back to make sure the deed’s done!”

The bouncer from earlier, fully recovered from the shock of a human presence in the room, cracked his knuckles and approached Noir.

“Get ‘im outta here!” a once-congenial customer yelled angrily.

“I can explain!” Noir flustered, but it was too late. Springer grabbed him by the collar and hurled him out the back door. As he did so, Sari made a quick jump from the high counter to the floor and sped across the cracked metal surface with her trusty energy skates. She was thankful for her durable Cybertronian half whenever she found herself having to make insane jumps or perform otherwise suicidal stunts in the heat of action. These outraged Cybertronians were helping her re-learn some of her cyber-ninja training as she frantically zoomed through legs and stomping feet and fell into an isolated back room with the determination of a baseball player sliding home. Returning to her feet, she rapidly aimed and threw a ball of electricity from her palms at a nearby control panel, causing a door to come sliding down over the alcove’s only entrance just in time. Bots in the main room shouted and slammed loudly on the closed door.

Panting, she examined her surroundings. Her eyes glowed faintly in the dark, but it wasn’t enough to reveal the clutter, tools and mess that surrounded her in the tiny utility closet. She couldn’t see it, but hidden in the corner was a bot-sized trapdoor that no Cybertronian would have recognized had the room been lit. She took a few blind steps forward with her arms extended in front of her. Her human eyes wanted to squint to narrow her line of detail, but at the same time her Cybertronian optics peeled open to allow her as much visibility as possible with the glow they emitted. She turned her head left and right, up and down as she walked trying to find a light source somewhere. She could only see a few feet in front of her and eventually ran into what she thought was a wall. Feeling her way along, she inadvertently travelled back behind the building’s cooling unit. The wall became rough back here and Sari could just make out a small latch next to her waist. She took it in both hands and pulled upwards, half-expecting some ceiling lights to flutter on. Instead, the wall opened close to her feet. Curiously, Sari moved back with the latch until the trapdoor swung high above her head on springs. She emitted a small yelp as it hoisted her into the air. Hanging from the open door, Sari found herself looking down a tunnel with light at the end of it. Heaving a relieved sigh, she dropped to the ground and entered the corridor, hoping that she had found a hidden exit.

#sari #sari sumdac #tfa #transformers animated #optimus prime #bumblebee #bulkhead #macaddam #part 1 #chapter 4 #cybertron #fan fiction

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Unification III

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This Star Trek: Discovery review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 7

The Vulcans have long been one of Star Trek‘s most fascinating creations. A society built on the value of logic, The Original Series immediately challenged the concept by making main character Spock half-human, with all of the emotionality that comes with it. Through his struggles, we were able to see both the value and limits of a life led by logic; his conclusions (and ours) on the matter were rarely simple ones. That legacy continues on today in Discovery, with an episode decades in the making. “Unification III” is more than just a reference to the 90s-era Next Generation two-parter (“Unification I” and “Unification II”) that told the story of Ambassador Spock’s efforts to bridge the divide between the long-separated Vulcan and Romulan civilizations, it is an intentional and direct continuation of that story. (If we didn’t get that from the content, we’d glean it from the episode’s title.) This is a yet another Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 installment that is deeply interested not just in pulling back in some of the franchise’s most celebrated characters, but in engaging with its most enduring themes.

What are the pros and cons of being part of something larger than yourself? It is a question last week’s episode, “Scavengers,” explicitly delved into and its one we see front and center yet again here, to even greater effect. It’s a question Michael needs to answer for herself, as she continues to question her place on the Discovery and in the Federation as a whole following her year without them. And it’s a question Ni’Var, the ex-Federation planet formerly known as Vulcan, cannot ignore, as it continues to live in a post-reunification society composed of both Vulcans and Romulans.

It is shocking to know that the planet that used to be Vulcan, one of the founding members of the Federation and always a beacon of light and justice, is no longer part of the interplanetary alliance. Frankly, it’s the biggest warning sign so far that perhaps this future incarnation of the Federation cannot be trusted. But that debate is for another episode. This episode’s debate lies firmly within the confines of The Burn, a mystery that has become increasingly tangled up in the story of Michael Burnham—not because she has any personal memory of the tragedy but because she has made it her mission to get to the bottom of the incident that tore the Federation apart in the hopes that she can bring the Federation back together again.

The mystery of The Burn leads Michael and the Federation to Ni’Var. Prior to The Burn, all Federation member planets were asked to put resources towards Starfleet’s dwindling dilithium problem. Ni’Var came up with SB-19, and experimental project that involved somehow moving ships through space in a near-instantaneous manner that is not unlike the Discovery’s spore drive method. However, the Ni’Var scientists deemed the experiment too dangerous and planned to shut it down… until the Federation ordered them to continue. When the Burn occurred, Ni’Var believed it was their fault and that the Federation forced them into the tragedy. Ni’Var chose to leave the Federation as a result.

Michael is insistent on bringing her new findings on The Burn to Ni’Var, as she believes it proves that SB-19 was not the source of the accident. She also wants access to any data from the SB-19 project that could help lead to more answers about The Burn. Despite her insistence, Michael is initially and surprisingly hesitant to go herself. However, Vance convinces/orders her. After all, who better to act as the Federation’s ambassador to Ni’Var than the sister to Spock, the person who paved the way to the Vulcan-Romulan reunification?

Unfortunately, Ni’Var President T’Rina immediately and definitively shuts down Michael’s request for the SB-19 data. But this is far from Burnham’s first time dealing with stubborn Vulcan-types. She invokes the T’Kal-in-ket, a Vulcan ritual that demands a quorum entertain her request for scientific data. Basically, it’s a debate club meet mixed with a therapy session with tiki torches for ambiance, and it is all so very Star Trek.

Michael is appointed an advocate from the Romulan Qowat Milat, aka the order of warrior-nuns seen this season in Star Trek: Picard and, in the biggest surprise of the episode, it is Michael’s long-lost mom! Honestly, the plot twist that time-traveling Gabrielle has someone become a Ni’Var warrior nun sometime in the last few years is a bit hard to swallow, but it’s such a glorious reunion that I’ll allow it. It also leads to one of the most intense moments of the episode, when Gabrielle more or less emotionally manipulates her own daughter in front of the Ni’Var quorum, the Ni’Var president, Saru, and a roomful of others into publicly working through her issues.

Why is Michael so obsessed with finding out why The Burn happened? How can she claim to speak for and trust the Federation when she was disobeying direct orders just last episode? Where does Michael belong? These questions, in grand Star Trek tradition, are asked in what is more or less a courtroom drama. And, in grand Star Trek tradition, when our protagonist reaches for faith in the institution of Starfleet, in her Discovery family, and in the ideals of the Federation, she finds it. In the process, she convinces T’Rina to share the SB-19 data with her—not by effectively and logically arguing her point in the T’Kal-in-ket, but by prioritizing protecting the fragile peace between the Romulans and Vulcans over getting answers about The Burn.

While Michael needed a win right about now, she needed the process of returning to a place she once called home and being forced to be honest with herself even more. Ni’Var gave that to her. Roughly halfway through the season, Michael has found where she belongs once again. She started this episode “between places,” as her mother described it, and she ended it being where she is: part of something bigger. If this validation of a commitment to and a belief in something bigger than one’s self—for Michael, for the Romulans and Vulcans of Ni’Var, for all of the member planets of the Federation—ends up being Star Trek: Discovery‘s enduring thematic legacy, then this journey to the future will be time well spent. After all, isn’t this what Star Trek has always been about?

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Additional thoughts.

In the other main plot of the episode, Saru asks Tilly to be his Acting First Officer. (Just give her the job!) Tilly has trouble with it, asking what are honestly some really difficult and important questions: Does Saru want her for this job because she is qualified or because she is compliant? He informs her that it is because he thinks it is what would be best for the ship, which I guess means the first option. It checks out that Tilly would have low self-esteem about this. We’ve seen it from her before, no doubt at least partially a result of her overly critical mother. But we’ve also seen how, when given the time and support, Tilly is able to advocate for herself. Honestly, she will make a great First Officer. I am excited to see this relatively non-traditional Captain-First Officer team of Saru and Tilly in action.

Speaking of which, I’m glad Stamets got his act together on this because his initial reaction to Tilly’s request for advice around the possible promotion was pretty harsh and not very helpful.

“The union of the Vulcan and Romulan people will not be achieved by politics diplomacy will not be achieved by politics or diplomacy — but it will be achieved.” Did anyone else cry when Leonard Nimoy came on screen?

I guess they didn’t have the budget to go to the surface of Ni’Var, huh? Bummer.

“What if you hadn’t made it back? What would I do?” I love that Tilly calls Michael out for putting hr in such a shitty position last episode. These two really are very good at being friends.

“You guys are chronic overachievers.” Book nails it.

“There is a whole galaxy out there, full of people who will reach for you. You have to let them.” This quote from last season remains one of my absolute favorites, and is obviously a guiding theme for Star Trek: Discovery.

“You always know where to find me.” Gabrielle, finally, to her daughter.

“Headline: Michael Burnham is Coming.” I love how Vance just transitions into Newsies mode here.

I am kind of shipping Saru and T’Rina?

“You feel like home.” Book and Michael are such a functional couple.

Confirmed! Michael and Tilly are still roommates.

“She wondered how much of the man Spock became was a result of who his sister was.” Wow, this is such a powerful, rare message: the idea that the legacy of an important man, or any important individual, is made up, too, by the people who supported and loved them.

I’m still side-eying that cat.

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